The jockeys’ room here in Hong Kong is renowned as being stacked with talent, making it one of the most competitive race riding environments in the world, and this season our jockeys are more than proving that fact. Last Sunday we had another rider equal Brett Prebble’s New Year’s Day feat of riding a four-timer, as his fellow Australian Zac Purton extended his lead in the jockey’s premiership with a winning quartet of his own. I was interested to learn that he’s the first jockey in local history to have amassed over 50 wins by this stage of the season. This is quite an achievement when you take into account that we have had just 33 race meetings so far, meaning that he has averaged more than a win and half per race meeting.
While Zac was bouncing back from a couple of quiet weeks by his standards, Joao Moreira returned from suspension on Sunday only to have his winning streak snapped. Joao had ridden a winner in every meeting he had participated in since October and it’s exceptional for any jockey to keep a winning streak going for so long. Anyway, I’m sure racing fans can continue to expect good performances from Zac and Joao in the upcoming meetings, and I would not be surprised to see our other top riders step out and grab the headlines at some stage either.
We’re now firmly in the month of January and that means the commencement of our top domestic racing series. This week we announced the first stage entries for the HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby in mid-March, and a total of 51 horses are currently entered for the race. I noticed that five of them have current ratings of 100 or above. Four of those horses are trained by John Moore, including Flagship Shine who is now rated 118 and has already put two wins in the bag this season, as well as Designs On Rome, Able Friend and Secret Sham. The other, last season’s Champion Griffin All You Wish, is in the care of champion trainer Dennis Yip.
All these five Derby entrants I’ve mentioned are among the 14 nominated for the first leg of the 4yo Series, the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile to be run on 19 January. Designs On Rome, Able Friend and Flagship Shine took part in barrier trials at Sha Tin yesterday and all of them trialled quite pleasingly. I will keep a close eye on their progress and it will be good to see how they perform in their first major assignment of their four-year-old campaign, en route to the premier classic event in March.
This day last season also marked the rise of our reigning Horse of the Year Military Attack. He began his progression to the forefront of local racing by notching his first pattern race victory in the HKG3 January Cup at Happy Valley. He has not looked back since as he has gone on to achieve top international successes in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Tonight is the latest renewal of the January Cup at the Valley and the field of 10 includes a few proven pattern race runners. The top-weight in the handicap is the G2 LONGINES Jockey Club Cup winner Endowing and another Group race performer in the field is the 2012 January Cup winner Pure Champion. This is the sole pattern race at the Valley this season so it is well worth heading over to the track to enjoy the occasion.
I think that the pace of this race will be good to slow, with Business As Usual likely to lead and hold the rails. Awkwardly drawn Same World and Lucky Forever may have to work early to try getting across in front. My favourites for the race are Endowing and Pure Champion, and I believe the latter horse will return to his best at the Valley. Little Dreams has performed extremely well in his last two races. Even now he tackles the 1800m distance, which may stretch his stamina, as he does not do much fast work, I think he is a horse which at least can be placed. The same applies to Rainbow Chic which is another horse I like in this race.
Comment
